Bedtime For Children

Growing up we had a very strict bedtime.  We were in bed by 7:00 with lights out at 7:30, every night except Friday night.  (As we aged, the times got a little later, but I remember even in high school that I had an early bed time in comparison to my peers.)

My children do not have a set bedtime.  They never really have.  The younger ones finish supper, take a bath, and get ready for bed.  They are sleeping no later than 9PM, sometimes as early as 7PM.  The older three sleep in the basement and bathe after supper chores (clearing the table, loading the dishwasher, helping the little ones with their bath and jammies).  After their showers, they go to their rooms.  This is usually around 8:30 or 9PM.  Often they are not asleep until 11PM.

Our premise is that they need down time as well.  We are a very busy household, and don't take much down time during the day.  We allow them a long wind-down time each night, as they need it.  They are not supposed to come up to the living room for anything, but they do quite often.  And they are supposed to keep it quiet in their rooms.  Most nights it goes okay.

Other nights, when Jason's been working a lot, or been away from home for work or training, he wants to get to see his children, so I will keep them up a little later.  They get to sit on and around him while we watch tv and chat.  This shortens there wind-down time in the basement, but sometimes they actually fall asleep more quickly because they've had down-time of a different sort.

Our summer and winter schedules are quite different too.  And we've already moved to our summer schedule.  We are eating around 7PM now.  In the winter, I tend to serve supper around 5PM, which makes bedtime earlier.  In the summer, it stays light so late that, honestly, I forget to start supper so everything gets pushed back.  Fortunately, this really works for us.

Why does it work?

We homeschool.  We don't have to be anywhere at any specific time on a daily basis.  When we do have appointments in the morning, we make changes for that.

DH's job is accommodating as well.  He picks his own hours a lot of the time.  When the job does dictate his hours, we change ours accordingly; we go to bed a little earlier sometimes.

Not having a set bedtime schedule will not work for every family.  But it works for us.



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,